This year, Austria hosted the 22nd informal summit of the heads of state of the German-speaking countries, namely Belgium, Germany, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg and Switzerland. On September 2, 2026, the leaders took part in a discussion on the theme “How Europe Wins,” held on the sidelines of the European Forum taking place in Alpbach.
On the second day of the summit, King Philippe and Queen Mathilde, Grand Duke Guillaume and Grand Duchess Stéphanie, Hereditary Prince Alois and Hereditary Princess Sophie, Swiss Federal President Guy Parmelin and Caroline Parmelin, German Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier and Elke Büdenbender, and Austrian Federal President Alexander Van der Bellen and Doris Schmidauer took part in a discussion in Alpbach.
In the evening, a ceremonial reception was held for the heads of state in front of the Hofburg Innsbruck. The palace is a former Habsburg residence and is considered one of the three most significant cultural buildings in the country, along with the Hofburg Palace and Schönbrunn Palace in Vienna.
I love Mathilde’s paint suit on her - fantastic style, fit, and color. Stephanie’s pant suit is also nice, but she tends to hold her purses with straps in the haphazard-looking manner as seen here, which detracts a bit from the polish of her look. Her hairstyling is beautiful. I’m not sure about her bright magenta dress - the fabric around the neck and the shiny fabric maybe not my favorite.
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Mathilde by far the best dressed in style, cut and colour.
ReplyDeleteStephanie’s Armani suit is perfect for her.
ReplyDeleteI agree except for the too short and clingy white camisole. Otherwise, a great look on the Duchess today. MR
Deletet was a real typical ceremony Tirolian style with music fanfares. The musicians were dressed in their folkloric costumes and hats with feathers. Their ladies wore the typical "dirndl". On their belt hang the barrel filled with schnapps, ready to distribute under the guests. Beautiful pictures were taken when it was getting dark and the lights were on in the streets. More pictures of this ceremonial welcome are published on other sites. There are no pictures where one can see if they really distributed the schnapps among the royals. When this custom is showed for the tourists one is expected to give them money for the schnapps.
ReplyDeleteFashionwise the ladies were all dressed festive.
Is it just me or is the hemline of GD Stephanie's magenta dress really uneven? Surely it's not meant to be that way. The colour is good on her. Like yesterday, my favourite is Queen Mathilde again (in both of today's outfits).
ReplyDeleteIn the first photo Mathilde stands out because that suit colour is stunning. I actually think each of the ladies there could have put on the same suit and all looked equally stunning. That’s a magically flattering colour. I also really like Stephanie’s light blue suit. I would love to borrow it !
ReplyDeleteEach Royal lady in pantsuit. Nice colors and great fit. Mathilde really sticks out. Great fit. Wonder if everyone really speaks German? Prince Alois and Sophie of Liechtenstein yes, the others not sure.
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Yes.
DeleteNew try. @ css The German presidential couple speaks German of course. The Swiss presidential couple speaks also German as German is one ove the 3 official languages of the country which are German, French and Rheto-Roman (an old language which I think is not used much in official documents and official events). The Austrian presidential couple are speaking German since it is the only official language spoken in Austria. The Belgian king and queen speak the three official languages in Belgium : French, Dutch and German. King Philippe speaks and understands German and Queen Mathilde has basic knowledge of the language but needs the help of translation to be able to understand correctly. The dukes of Luxembourg speak French, German and Letzeburg (which is a mix of German, Dutch and French). The Princes of Liechtenstein speak German and probably French too.They all understand and speak English as in Europe the majority of people with an official function (and the civilians who have studied or are working in a business, industrial, medical, touristic, educatonal, etc...... environment) are able to speak and understand English. One must not forget that among royals French has always been the language which was spoken or as the first language or as the second language.
Delete@ Anonymous 06:12
DeleteAs far as I know, also Italian is an official language in Switzerland, though not sure if it used in formal contexts, documents and the like too.
As to Rheto- Roman , it would deserve a dedicated chapter of its own, which would take us too far.
P. the original
@ P. the original
DeleteOf course, I forgot Italian. I forgot to mention that King Philippe and Queen Mathilde understand Italian and Spanish and one of them speaks a bit Spanish and the other one speaks a bit Italian. I also forgot to mention that Grand Duchess Stéphanie of Luxembourg is speaking several languages fluently. She is of Flemish origin she understands Dutch, she is educated in Wallonia the French speaking part of Belgium where she went to school in French. I know she studied at a German university too. I know she speaks a number of other languages but I don't remember which ones.
The setting for this is so beautiful
ReplyDeleteMathilde looks outstanding, the pantsuit is beautifully crafted. Perfect style and color for her. The light beige color of her shoes, really finishes this outfit off beautifully. Her hair looks lovely. The green pantsuit also looks nice love the addition of the scarf adding a splash of color.
ReplyDeleteI love GD Stephanie’s suit, wrinkles and all. Best shoe choice of all the consort ladies. I also really like the colour of her dress. Q Mathilde looks wonderful in both outfits, she appears to be beautiful, kind and “cool”. Quite a rare combination. HP Sophie often wears nice clothes, but almost as often doesn’t wear them well. She just misses the mark with her styling somehow, like here. I think it is the scarf and shoes with what would otherwise be a nice green suit. Her evening outfit is probably better forgotten. The pants do not go with the shoes or the shawl. To be fair, those pants probably wouldn’t go well with much at all.
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